It’s almost a cliché that children returning to school in September are asked to write an essay summarizing “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.” It’s been a long time since I was in school and had to do that, but since many of you have asked I want to share a bit about what I did on my renewal leave.

We traveled. We visited Marcy’s aunt and cousins in Portland (whom we hadn’t seen in more than a dozen years) and then, since we were in the neighborhood (so to speak) we went on to Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver. Marcy’s sister and brother-in-law accompanied us on that trip. We went to Mammoth with our friends the Wests for the blues festival. We went to Morro Bay where we kayaked. We spent a long weekend in San Francisco with Lindsay and Ian. We spent a week in Curacao (which Marcy planned when she discovered we could get there on air miles and there was a hotel bargain to be had.)

I did a bit of work; including participating in our VBS program and making a few phone calls. Yes, I know I was supposed to be on leave. More about that later.

I walked on the beach, I kayaked in the Dana Point marina, I worked on several projects around the house. I read six novels. One Saturday I worked on the Habitat build in Fullerton with seven others from our church.

I also learned a few things about myself.

The first week or two at home felt awkward and uncomfortable. I felt like I should be heading into the church office. I have never thought of myself as a workaholic, but I see that I have tendencies to be one. I need to remember to take care of myself.

I also didn’t fully understand how I was burning myself out working and am grateful to the other staff members who pointed that out to me and encouraged me to take the renewal leave. I am indebted to all of them for picking up the extra work that my absence created for them so that I could have a time of rest and renewal.

The concept of a regular time of rest is deeply rooted in our biblical faith (Genesis 2:2-3) and we are all encouraged to take Sabbath rest. The difficulty for a pastor lies in the fact that Sunday is a workday so we have to find a rest day on other days of the week and at other times.

I am deeply appreciative of the time of renewal that I have had and am excited about our shared ministry in the year ahead.

Grace and peace to you!